RELIGION Poem: Christmas, 2024, by Elizabeth Hykes

According to the Christmas story of scripture
God decided to inhabit an infant body
to be carried in a woman’s body
then in her arms
to live without bowel control
without strength to hold his head up
and to live in a society that was unsafe.
He did that for us so we wouldn’t
have to die because of our misdeeds.

He could have come as an elephant
able to walk at birth and nurtured by his herd
Humans might poach him
for his tusks. Would that do the work
of crucifixion?
Could we have learned
not to die of our sins from an elephant?

He could have come as a giant sequoia
stable and stately and able to withstand
hurricane force winds and live 500 years
of interconnectedness within the forest—
a clear example of patience,
of mutual support within a strong community
of hospitality to other living beings.
Perhaps they did.

Author: poetryfest

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